The Recruitment and Retention of Educators of Color Amid Institutionalized Racism

• In Event: Perpetuating Inequalities: The Role of Political Distraction in Education Policy Making

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes
The educator workforce has remained approximately 80% White (US Department of Education, 2016) in the decades since the 1954 Brown decision. Moreover, educators of color (EOC) leave the teaching workforce at a rate almost 25% higher than their White counterparts (Achinstein, Ogawa, Sexton, & Frietas, 2010; Easton-Brooks, 2013), despite increased efforts to improve recruitment and retention. Recruitment and retention efforts overlook a primary reason that educators of color leave schools: namely, “unsupportive organizational contexts, which [include] a lack of multicultural capital as reflected in low expectations or negative attitudes about students of color, lack of support for culturally relevant or socially just teaching, and limited dialogue about race and equity in the school” (Achinstein et al., 2010, p. 89). We argue that solely focusing on the recruitment and retention of EOC acts as a distraction from dismantling the institutionalized racism and segregation that continues to permeate our school systems.

Theoretical Perspectives
This study relies on critical race theory. Critical race theory (CRT) challenges the norm of White privilege and considers the complex relationship between inequity and race, gender, and socioeconomic class. CRT further implies that educational practices and policies without the consideration of the impact of race may not adequately address inequality in this society (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995).
Data Sources and Methods
Education policies reinforce social stratification by prioritizing and normalizing middle-class Whiteness in schools (Gillborn, 2005; Leonardo, 2007). Critical policy analysis (CPA) dissects the power structures inherent in the creation and implementation of these policies (Levinson et al., 2009). Our study specifically tackles one of the five concerns addressed by CPA (Young & Diem, 2017): the effect of policy on inequality and privilege. We situate our study in Iowa, and rely on document analysis, state- and district-level demographic data, and a quantitative analysis of original state-level survey data to examine the impact of institutionalized racism on both educators and students of color.

Results and Substantiated Conclusions
Preliminary findings indicate that racialized school climates had significant, direct effects on the race-based stress and professional racial self-efficacy of educators of color, thereby impacting their daily work. Data from the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (2019) and the Iowa Department of Education (2019) find that students of color in Iowa are overrepresented in discipline and special education. Our findings suggest that until school climates and curriculum, pedagogy, and leadership practices become antiracist, simply diversifying the workforce will not effectively change the public education system.

Scientific/Scholarly Significance
This study contributes to the literature on the recruitment and retention of educators of color by specifically focusing on a predominately White, rural, but diversifying state. Previous research on recruitment and retention has revolved around the resulting impact on students of color and their increased academic achievement (Grissom & Redding, 2016; Learning Policy Institute, 2018), but this particular research draws attention to how localized academic and discipline policies, and the lack of antiracist efforts, can counteract the strides being made through recruitment and retention.

Authors

• Ain A. Grooms, The University of Iowa

• Duhita Mahatmya, The University of Iowa

• Ebonee Johnson, The University of Iowa